The present invention relates to a toilet tank intake valve, particularly to, a floatless intake valve for use in the control of water level thereby achieving water stoppage in the toilet tank and also capable of adjusting the water level at will.
It is known that the conventional intake valve used in the tank of a flush toilet consists of a water inlet pipe having at the upper end thereof an intake valve, a control unit for controlling the intake valve, a slender connecting rod connected to the control unit and a float bowl disposed at the end of this float arm. Owing to the presence of the slender float arm extending transversely in the toilet tank and the float bowl with a considerably large volume, not only is the valve cumbersome in its external appearance but the valve itself occupies most of the space inside the tank. Furthermore, since impetus to the float bowl to work the connecting rod and to control the valve comes from the buoyancy, in order to operate this valve there must be sufficient amount of water in the tank and by which thus results in the volume of the water tank being increased correspondingly and in the waste of water. Again, if it is desired to adjust the water level in the tank by this conventional intake valve, this can be accomplished only when the float bowl end of the connecting rod is forcibly bent upward or downward in order to make the level of the float bowl to be either higher or lower during full water level. Hence, with this valve the adjustment is difficult and in so doing it will likely damage the connecting rod causing the whole water intake valve to be unserviceable. At the same time, since the length of the water inlet pipe must remain constant and can not possibly be adjusted, it is impossible therefore that a single model of this valve can be adapted for use in water tanks of different heights and in this way, the valve lacks interchangeability in utility. In addition, in this kind of valve screws are mostly used for connection between the connecting rod and the valve control device, after use for some time these screws turn loose easily or even become rusted and broken so that the valve will not work properly or manipulation becomes impossible. It has also been found that with the conventional type of valve, water flows noisily during filling up of the toilet tank and following the ascent of the float bowl, the opening in the valve port gradually decreases and this again causes a change in the amount of inflowing water from being large to being small, thereby lengthening the time for the level of water to become full in the tank. Again, when leakage occurs constantly in the outlet valve of the water tank, since there is no possibility that the intake valve can be completely closed water will flow out continuously resulting in wastage of water. Difficulty arises next when there is a trouble and the valve needs to be repaired and a replacement. If often requires the use of tools or has to rely upon a plumber's hand to accomplish the job and is difficult for the user to attend to the replacement by himself, and this adds to the cost of maintenance. The entire intake valve of the conventional type with its large size and many protuberances appears again to be heavy and bulky, being disadvantageous to the management and packaging thereof and damageable during transportation.
It is the purpose of this invention to ameliorate the aforesaid disadvantages in the conventional water intake valve, and to provide a novel intake valve for use with flushing toilets.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a toilet tank intake valve designed to be neat, compact and small in size having no slender float arm nor the float bowl.
It is a further object to provide a floatless water tank intake valve which can be independently adjusted in height in relation to the height of a water tank to facilitate the fitting thereof and regulation of the water level in the tank, the regulation thereof being convenient, rapid and precise.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a floatless water tank intake valve in which water discharge is kept constant such that time required for the tank to be at full water level is shortened, and the flow of water is quiet.
It is yet an additional object of the invention to provide a floatless water tank intake valve which, when there is a slight leakage in the tank or the outlet valve, is capable of maintaining the intake valve continuously closed to avoid a wastage of water.
It is yet a different object of the invention to provide a water tank intake valve in which maintenance, repair or replacement is very easy, and any person can accomplish the work by oneself.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a water tank intake valve adaptable to any conventional type or used water tank and capable of being designed to break through the configuration of the conventional type water tank since a water tank is not under limitation by the length of the conventional type float arm.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a water tank intake valve which is easy to manufacture, assemble and mount and which after assembled into the component products is easy to manage and economical in packaging volume.